The invention lies in the field of games. The invention relates to board games in which the pieces belonging to competing players may be moved in a variety of ways so as to win the game. In particular, the invention relates to a concentric game board and method of playing a game. In conventional games, such as checkers, a player becomes bored after many competitive contests. Therefore, there is a need for a new board game that stimulates renewed interest from players because of the novelty of each individual game.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a concentric game board and method of playing a game that overcome the hereinafore-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices and methods of this general type and that provides a uniquely shaped and compact game board, engenders renewed player interest, requires a relatively high degree of skill to master, and does not seek to remove opponent""s pieces from the game board during play. With the foregoing and other objects in view, there is provided, in accordance with the invention, a game board, including at least three concentric circular areas each having piece placement locations for receiving playing pieces thereupon, the areas including an outer area, a middle area, and a center area, the outer area having a first subset of the piece placement locations disposed in a ring, at least one location of the first subset being a first gate location, the middle area having a second subset of the piece placement locations disposed in a ring, at least one location of the second subset being a second gate location, the center area having a third subset of the piece placement locations disposed in a ring, at least one location of the third subset being a third gate location, and a fourth subset of the piece placement locations disposed inside the third subset, a first barrier separating the first subset from the second subset, the first barrier having at least one first opening adjacent the first gate location defining a first gate path from the outer area to the middle area, a second barrier separating the second subset from the third subset, the second barrier having at most four second openings, one of the second openings adjacent the second gate location defining a second gate path from the middle area to the center area, and the first gate location, the second gate location, the third gate location, the at least one first opening, the one second opening, the first gate path, and the second gate path being aligned along a single diameter of the areas.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, the at least three concentric circular areas are only three areas including the outer area, the middle area, and the center area.
In accordance with a further feature of the invention, the first subset has thirty-two piece placement locations, the second subset has twenty piece placement locations, the third subset has fourteen piece placement locations, and the fourth subset has eight piece placement locations. In particular, the piece placement locations of the fourth subset are disposed in at least one T-shaped path.
In accordance with an added feature of the invention, only two piece placement locations of the first subset are first gate locations, only two piece placement locations of the second subset are second gate locations, only two piece placement locations of the third subset are third gate locations, the first barrier has only two first openings each adjacent one of the first gate locations defining two first gate paths from the outer area to the middle area, and the second barrier has only two second openings each adjacent one of the second gate locations defining two second gate paths from the middle area to the center area.
In accordance with an additional feature of the invention, the two first gate locations, the two second gate locations, the two third gate locations, the two first openings, the two second openings, the two first gate paths, and the two second gate paths are aligned along a single diameter of the areas.
In accordance with yet another feature of the invention, the piece placement locations of the first subset have at least first and second different visual identifiers, at least a majority of the piece placement locations of the first subset are indicated with the first identifier, at least one of the piece placement locations of the first subset is indicated with the second identifier, and the piece placement location with the second identifier is disposed on a second diameter of the areas different from the single diameter.
In accordance with yet a further feature of the invention, the single diameter and the second diameter are orthogonal to one another.
With the objects of the invention in view, there is also provided a game board, including at least three concentric circular areas each having piece placement locations for receiving playing pieces thereupon, the areas including an outer area, a middle area, and a center area, the outer area having a first subset of the piece placement locations, the middle area having a second subset of the piece placement locations, the center area having a third subset of the piece placement locations, and a barrier separating one of the first subset from the second subset and the second subset from the third subset, the barrier having only two openings for pieces to pass through.
In accordance with yet an added feature of the invention, the piece placement locations of the first subset are disposed in a ring and the piece placement locations of the second subset are disposed in a ring.
In accordance with yet an additional feature of the invention, the barrier is a first barrier separating the first subset from the second subset, a second barrier separates the second subset from the third subset, and the second barrier has only two second openings.
In accordance with again another feature of the invention, the two first openings and the two second openings are aligned along a single diameter of the areas.
In accordance with again a further feature of the invention, the third subset has an outer subset and an inner subset of the piece placement locations and the piece placement locations of the inner subset are disposed inside the piece placement locations of the outer subset. Preferably, the inner subset has eight piece placement locations and the piece placement locations of the inner subset are disposed in at least one T-shaped path.
In accordance with again an added feature of the invention, the piece placement locations of the first subset have at least first and second different visual identifiers, at least a majority of the piece placement locations of the first subset are indicated with the first identifier, and at least one of the piece placement locations of the first subset is indicated with the second identifier. Preferably, two of the piece placement locations of the first subset are indicated with the second identifier.
In accordance with again an additional feature of the invention, the two openings of the harrier are disposed on a first diameter of the areas and the piece placement location with the second identifier is disposed on a second diameter of the areas different from the first diameter.
In accordance with still another feature of the invention, the barrier has only three openings for pieces to pass through.
In accordance with still a further feature of the invention, the barrier has only four openings for pieces to pass through.
With the objects of the invention in view, there is also provided a game board, including at least three concentric circular areas each having piece placement locations for receiving playing pieces thereupon, the areas including an outer area, a middle area, and a center area, the outer area having a first subset of the piece placement locations, the middle area having a second subset of the piece placement locations, the center area having a third subset of the piece placement locations, a barrier separating one of the first subset from the second subset and the second subset from the third subset, and the piece placement locations of the first subset having at least first and second different visual identifiers. Preferably, the first subset has thirty-two piece placement locations, the second subset has twenty piece placement locations, and the third subset has twenty-two piece placement locations.
In accordance with still an added feature of the invention, at least a majority of the piece placement locations of the first subset are indicated with the first identifier and at least two of the piece placement locations of the first subset are indicated with the second identifier.
In accordance with still an additional feature of the invention, two of the piece placement locations of the first subset are indicated with the second identifier and two others of the piece placement locations of the first subset are indicated with a third identifier.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, the piece placement locations of the first subset are disposed in a ring and the piece placement locations of the second subset are disposed in a ring.
In accordance with a further feature of the invention, the barrier is a first barrier separating the first subset from the second subset and a second barrier separates the second subset from the third subset.
In accordance with an added feature of the invention, two of the piece placement locations of the first subset are indicated with the second identifier, two others of the piece placement locations of the first subset are indicated with a third identifier, the first barrier has only two first openings, and the second barrier has only two second openings.
In accordance with an additional feature of the invention, the two first openings, the two second openings, and the two piece placement locations of the first subset with the third identifier are aligned along a single diameter of the areas.
In accordance with yet another feature of the invention, at least a majority of the piece placement locations of the first subset are indicated with the first identifier and the two piece placement locations with the second identifier are disposed on a second diameter of the areas different from the single diameter.
In accordance with yet a further feature of the invention, the third subset has an outer subset and an inner subset of the piece placement locations and the piece placement locations of the inner subset are disposed inside the piece placement locations of the outer subset. Preferably, the inner subset has eight piece placement locations and some of the eight piece placement locations of the inner subset are disposed in at Least one T-shaped path.
With the objects of the invention in view, there is also provided a game board consisting of three concentric circular area each having piece placement locations for receiving playing pieces thereupon, the areas including an outer area, a middle area, and a center area, the outer area having a first subset of the piece placement locations disposed in a ring, the middle area having a second subset of the piece placement locations disposed in a ring, the center area having a third subset of the piece placement locations, some of the piece placement locations of the third subset disposed in a ring, a first barrier separating the first subset from the second subset, the first barrier having two first openings, a second barrier separating the second subset from the third subset, the second barrier having two second openings, and the two first openings and the two second openings being aligned along a single diameter of the areas.
With the objects of the invention in view, there is also provided a method of playing game including the steps of providing a game board having a game surface with defined playing piece locations, providing a set of playing pieces to at least two opposing players, each playing piece set having only one first piece and a subset of second pieces identical to one another and different from the first piece, placing each of the playing piece sets on the piece locations of the game surface, and each of the players taking turns to move their own playing pieces among the piece locations and prevent the first piece of another one of the players from being able to move from one of the piece locations to another of the piece locations. Preferably, none of the playing pieces are eliminated throughout the game. In other words, a total number of playing pieces on the game surface is kept constant throughout the entire game.
In accordance with yet an added mode of the invention, the second piece subset is initially defined as having a first set of characteristics, at least two of the piece locations are defined as converting locations, and respective pieces of the second piece subset are defined as having a second set of characteristics when the respective pieces are placed on or jump over one of the converting locations.
In accordance with yet an additional mode of the invention, the second set of characteristics includes characteristics different from and/or in addition to characteristics of the first set of characteristics.
In accordance with a concomitant mode of the invention, the playing piece locations of the game surface are organized in concentric circles.
Other features that are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a concentric game board and method of playing a game, it is, nevertheless, not intended to be limited to the details shown because various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.